Myron Brinig

1896-1991

Butte, MT

Born in Minneapolis but raised in Butte Myron Brinig was, according to Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage, the "first American Jewish novelist to write in any significant way about the gay experience.” Several of his novels, including Singermann (1929) and Wide Open Town (1931), are set in Butte, with the main character based on Myron’s father, Moses Brinig, a Romanian immigrant, whose shoe store was right next to the iconic M&M Bar.

He would study at NYU in 1914 and go on to publish 22 novels. His works represented working-class Americans as well as queer experience in America. While his works were popular and appreciated during the 1930s, in which radical politics influenced literary taste considerably, his subject matter later fell out of favor with the establishment.